Proposed Solution
‘ Robotterfly’ will be innovative because this technology is not usually occupied in museums; only the ones showcasing this technology. The end user will learn about the monarch’s biological behaviors and experience interactive multimedia first-hand. The complete exhibit will include a robotic butterfly (Robotterfly) that the museum patrons will be able to interact with via either providing stimuli or maneuvering it towards elements in the enclosure. Additionally, we propose the inclusion of both a two-dimensional interactive website which highlights robotterfly’s abilities and nature butterfly behavior in the wild. This piece will function on a stand-alone computer interface. A more artistic element will be a three-dimensional animation combined with actual nature video and audio as its background. This will be a computer generated system which is projected onto the background which may include surface features such as hand-made butterflies. A second two-dimensional animation will address the migratory mystery of the Monarch butterfly and will not be user interactive.

Performance Specifications
‘ Robotterfly’ will be a robotic butterfly that will mimic real butterfly behaviors. We realize that insect flight is still being studied by scientists and that this particular behavior will be too mechanically complex to mimic so we intend to have Robotterfly mimic what are called gregarious behaviors such as mating and roosting. An initial idea for user interactivity would involve the having a variety of silk flowers available for the user to present to robotterfly to determine which flowers it prefers for a food source.
We will select an appropriate programmable robot control system which will allow for a robust range of electronic sensors for feedback mechanisms such as light and color sensors, sound level sensors, and others. We intend to work on developing prototypes that are at least five times life scale. We will investigate the use of small servo motors or possibly memory wire to serve as the actuators for movement in our prototype. A majority of robotterfly will be constructed from plastic materials.

Technical Feasibility
We believe that building on this scale will make the technical challenges for designing the mechanism less difficult. We have already experimented with fabrication of transparent wings. We purchased several thin sheets of plastics which could be warmed to a glass transition point in our laboratory oven and then quickly pressed it between two dies to give surface details. To make the dies, we designed a simple geometric shape and inlaid ridge details using Autodesk inventor. We then imported the solid model into Mastercam where we created tool paths for our Techno CNC router. We cut the positive and negative dies from brass plates. We achieved useable results from both PVC and PETG polymers. We have included pictures of these two proof of concept tests In the additional document titled supporting images.

Brass dies in the oven with plastic sheets. Pressing the design using a bearing press.

Design embossed in PVC. Design embossed in PETGOur graphic art students are very capable of creating the proposed animations and multimedia exhibits. Several of our students are in their third and fourth years of instruction in computer animation. We chose to use the butterfly based in part on past animation experience creating animations for migration events. We have included screen shots and story boards of some of those past works.

Three dimensional installation art which includes a projected computer animation

A story board for a Flash animation on the lifecycle of a butterfly.

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